Objectives (from the project proposal)
- Purpose
- Scope
Requirements List

Objectives (from the project proposal)

Purpose

Context, as a key driver to precisely determine business meaning and intent of information definition and exchange, requires a formal structure and methodology. Although context has been identified as a key component of the UN/CEFACT standard, a formal mechanism for defining and using context has not been in place. With an increasing maturity of a number of standards (CCTS, CCMA, UMM, etc.) that all have strong needs to define and use context, now is the time to form a project to tackle this problem.

The purpose of this project is to develop a methodology and technical specification for developing, registering, and using context drivers as part and for the application of a number of UN/CEFACT standard artefacts, such as Business Data Type, Business Information Entity, Business Message, Business Area, Business Process Models etc. This project will start from the current context mechanism described in the Core Components Technical Specification (CCTS).

This project will be a joint effort between TMG, TBG, and ICG. It will be, however, led and managed by TMG with participation from TBG and ICG members, as context methodology will impact a number of standards artifacts being developed under UN/CEFACT.

Scope

The specification will provide a methodology for assigning context to business information using a number of defined context drivers by advancing the context driver mechanism of the CCTS. The specification will take into account the ongoing work within TMG (UMM collaboration models), ICG (Registry Implementation Specification) and within TBG (Common Business Process Catalogue). The methodology will also include a recommendation for the code lists that can be used to represent context drivers and a proposal of how to maintain these code lists.

The proposed steps to develop the draft specification are as follows:

Review and evaluate current UN/CEFACT standards that are related to and potentially impacted by the context methodology;
Develop a context framework meta-model and a context methodology for the implementation of the meta-model;
For each area (category) of the context meta-model, develop a taxonomy that can be used to populate the eventual context driver value instance. Existing taxonomies it shall be used;
Collaborate with TBG in developing business process related context model and examples;
Collaborate with ICG in registry meta-model and implementation;
Develop first complete draft for review.

Requirements List

Number	Category	Name	Description	Comment	Contributor	Approved?
1	CCTS	UCM shall define context for CCTS	UCM shall define context concepts as they apply to CCTS.	Coates - based on submission of Joe Zhou.	Joe Zhou	Yes
2	CCTS	UCM shall define CCTS context methodology	UCM shall define a methodology for applying contextual refinements (customizations, extensions, restrictions, etc.) to core components and business information entities.	Coates - based on submission of Joe Zhou.	Joe Zhou	Yes
3	Documentation	UCM TS shall include extra information for users	UCM technical specification document shall include sections covering goals, (sample) use cases, dictionary of terms, implementation recommendations and guidelines etc. in addition to a typical standard specification document.	REJECTED - will be deleted. The UCM group will decide, on an on-going basis, on what is the appropriate documentation for UCM.	Joe Zhou	No
4	Model	UCM shall include a meta-model	UCM shall include a meta-model showing the context concepts.	May include appropriate associations, properties, enumerations, and cardinalities. This is to reduce ambiguity and promote common understanding of the context model.	Joe Zhou	Yes
5	Scope	UCM shall define scope of related standards	UCM shall define the scope of the CCTS related standards that can be contextually refined (e.g. BIE, ACC, BP, etc.) based on assessment of use cases.	Coates - based on submission of Joe Zhou. REJECTED - will be deleted. UCM provides a context mechanism, it does not define scope for standards which use UCM.	Joe Zhou	No
6	Schedule	UCM shall be devloped in phases	UCM shall be developed in phases, where phase one will focus on context to CCTS; phase two on context to message assembly, and phase three and beyond on context to business transactions and business process models etc.	Coates - based on submission of Joe Zhou. REJECTED - will be deleted. The UCM group will decide, on an on-going basis, what is the appropriate development scheduling for UCM.	Joe Zhou	No
7	Migration	UCM shall not preclude migration of CCTS contexts	UCM shall not preclude migration of existing CCTS contexts to UCM.	Coates - based on submission of Joe Zhou.	Joe Zhou	Yes
8	Migration	UCM shall specify migration guidelines	UCM shall specify migration guidelines from the previous CCTS context driver approach (section 6.2 of CCTS 2.01).	Coates - based on submission of Joe Zhou.	Joe Zhou	Yes
9	CCMA	UCM shall support assembly of XML Schemas	UCM shall support assembly of XML schemas using elements from multiple contexts.	Coates - based on submission of Joe Zhou. REJECTED - will be deleted. XML Schema assembly is an ATG2 function. UCM supports CCMA, not ATG2 directly; CCMA will be the liason point.	Joe Zhou	No
10	CCMA	UCM shall help define how to use context for assembly of artefacts	UCM shall work with CCMA to define specifically how to use context for the assembly of artefacts.	This requirement is submitted to help refine the scope of UCM, based on whether this requirement is accepted or not. REJECTED - will be deleted. Subsumed by requirement #22.	Anthony B. Coates	No
11	CCMA	UCM shall define how to use context for assembly of XML Schemas	UCM shall define specifically how to use context for the assembly of XML Schemas.	This requirement is submitted to help refine the scope of UCM, based on whether this requirement is accepted or not. REJECTED - will be deleted. Subsumed by requirement #22.	Anthony B. Coates	No
12	Model	UCM shall be able to classify contexts	UCM shall be able to organize or classify contexts into categories.	E.g. geopolitical region, industry. Could be done through taxonomy, ontology, folksonomy (tagging), or other means. This is to (for example) promote and facilitate reuse of components, and to enable context-driven message assembly.	Joe Zhou	Yes
13	CCMA	UCM shall support context-driven assembly of BIEs	UCM shall support context-driven assembly of business information entities using context. Context values from multiple categories and mixed levels of the hierarchies shall be allowed to form a composite context for a given assembly of business information entities.	Coates - based on submission of Joe Zhou. REJECTED - will be deleted. Subsumed by requirement #22.	Joe Zhou	No
14	Processing	UCM shall provide a design-time context mechanism	UCM shall provide a mechanism for specifying and applying contextual refinements to supported artifacts at design-time.	Coates - based on submission of Joe Zhou.	Joe Zhou	Yes
15	Processing	UCM shall provide a run-time context mechanism	UCM shall provide an embeddable format for identifying/expressing business context. The format shall be usable for annotating messages with business context information.	This could be used to facilitate and/or simplify validation at run time.	Joe Zhou	Yes
16	Model	UCM shall define an extension and maintenance method for the context model	UCM shall define an extension and maintenance method for the context model.		Joe Zhou	Yes
17	Model	UCM shall facilitate governance of context model	UCM shall allow and facilitate governance and harmonization of contexts and related artifacts.	Coates - based on submission of Joe Zhou. REJECTED - will be deleted. Subsumed by requirement #19.	Joe Zhou	No
18	Model	UCM shall define how changes to the context model are controlled	UCM shall define how changes to the context model are controlled, based on an (externally defined) authority model and process.	Coates - based on submission of Joe Zhou. REJECTED - will be deleted. Management processes are specified by TBG, not by TMG.	Joe Zhou	No
19	Model	UCM shall allow full lifecycle management of the context model	UCM shall allow full lifecycle management of the context model.	For example, determination of dependencies, facilitation of model merges. Coates - based on submission of Joe Zhou.	Joe Zhou	Yes
20	Model	UCM shall provide a registry of context models (??)	UCM shall provide a registry of context models and relative (??) to other UN/CEFACT standards	Coates - based on submission of Joe Zhou. REJECTED - will be deleted. Registries are the responsibility of ICG, not TMG.	Joe Zhou	No
21	Dependencies	UCM shall minimize dependencies	UCM shall structure the methodology and specifications to minimize dependencies on specific implementation technologies and other specifications.	Coates - based on submission of Joe Zhou.	Joe Zhou	Yes
22	Integration	UCM shall be cohesive with CCTS, CCMA, and BPSS	UCM shall have a cohesive approach with CCTS, CCMA, and BPSS, but should be as loosely coupled as possible.	Coates - based on submission of Joe Zhou.	Joe Zhou	Yes
23	Documentation	UCM shall provide minimal implementation guidance	UCM shall provide minimal implementation guidance in order to further understanding, not to prescribe a solution.	For example, use of namespaces, packages, and similar mechanisms, if appropriate. Coates - based on submission of Joe Zhou. REJECTED - will be deleted. The UCM group will decide, on an on-going basis, on what is the appropriate documentation for UCM.	Joe Zhou	No
24	Documentation	UCM shall specify methodology but not implementation	UCM shall define a context methodology, but shall not define how that methodology should be implemented.		Joe Zhou	Yes
25	BPSS	UCM shall support context-driven assembly of business transactions	UCM shall support context-driven assembly of business transactions to create business collaborations using context, by choosing between contexts that specify refinements to included elements in each applicable category.	That is, context drivers, possibly using categories or other organization mechanism. REJECTED - will be deleted. Subsumed by requirement #22.	Joe Zhou	No
26	Code Lists	UCM shall include a recommendation for code lists	UCM shall include a recommendation for specific code lists that can be used to represent context drivers.	This requirement is taken from the scope document. REJECTED - will be deleted. Selection of specific code lists is the responsibility of TBG; it is outside of the methodology scope of TMG.	Doug Hill	No
27	Documentation	UCM context mechanism design must follow a well know source of definition for "context"	The UCM context mechanism design must follow a well known source of definition for "context", and this definition must be published within the specification(s). UCM or UN/CEFACT can be the source of the definition, as appropriate.		Scott Hinkelman	Yes
28	Model	UCM context mechanism should not preclude usage with an OMG CCTS MOF Profile	The UCM context mechanism should not preclude usage with an OMG MOF Profile defined for CCTS.	REJECTED - will be deleted. This was withdrawn; it was agreed that there is no strong current requirement for a MOF profile.	Scott Hinkelman	No
29	SBDH	Context should be part of SBDH	Context should be part of SBDH in order to convey the context of the message to the partner.	REJECTED - will be deleted. Subsumed by requirement #15.	Gunther Stuhec	No
30	SBDH	UCM shall define context in the SBDH	UCM shall define specifically how to specify context in the SBDH.	This requirement is submitted to help refine the scope of UCM, based on whether this requirement is accepted or not. REJECTED - will be deleted. Subsumed by requirement #15.	Anthony B. Coates	No
31	Internationalisation	UCM should prescribe language for categories/constraints	UCM shall prescribe in which language categories/constraints should be defined. This should be done in conjunction with the EBAWG to align with what is done in other UN/CEFACT specifications.	In particular, the approach should be aligned with the approach of CCTS.	Gunther Stuhec	Yes
32	Model	UCM shall support "broader/narrower" contexts	UCM should be able to define which contexts have a "broader" or "narrower" relationship with other contexts.		Gunther Stuhec	Yes
33	Scope	Implementation verification shall include serialisation	Implementation verification shall include at least one serialisation syntax for the UCM context model.		Gunther Stuhec	Yes
34	Model	UCM shall not limit the number of context categories	UCM shall not limit the number of possible or allowed context categories (or whatever is the equivalent concept in the UCM context model).		Gunther Stuhec	Yes
35	Code Lists	UCM shall define how code lists are used in the UCM context model	UCM shall define how code list information is represented and used in the UCM context model.		Gunther Stuhec	Yes
36	Model	UCM context model shall support multi-parent hierarchies	UCM shall allow for multiple-parent context hierarchies.	It may be worth considering how this context model might integrate with relevant external taxonomy/ontology models.group.	Gunther Stuhec	Yes
37	Code Lists	UCM shall support multiple code lists for context categories	UCM shall support multiple possible code lists for each context category (or whatever is the equivalent concept in the UCM context model). UCM shall specify a mechanism for encoding the active choice(s) of code lists.	URIs might be used to specify particular code lists.	Gunther Stuhec	Yes
38	Model	UCM shall be able to represent all aspects which make up a particular specific business context	UCM shall include a kind of logic that allows the explicit setting of sets of business context categories and valid business context values in order to formally describe the context of a specific artifact’ s context.	The context logic must allow for specifying exceptions. Example: a specific entity is valid in BP "Purchase Ordering" for all countries without "Germany". The same entity is also valid in BP "Invoicing" if the country is "Germany". Agreement that need for mathematical/ formal logic approach.	Gunther Stuhec	Yes
39	Processing	UCM shall support selection of artefacts based on business context	UCM shall define a context processing model which supports business process role (context role) specific selection and customisation of relevant artefacts, taking into account the specific context aspects of the roles of each participant in a business process.	The context processing behavior may consider the qualifiers of ISO 11179 based artifact names.	Gunther Stuhec	Yes
40	Identification	UCM shall provide a mechanism for creating namespace URIs based on contexts	UCM shall define a method for creating unique namespace URIs based on particular business contexts. This should be done in conjunction with ATG.	These namespace URIs can be used for contextually identifying individual sections of XML messages.	Gunther Stuhec	Yes
41	Identification	UCM shall define an embeddable format for context representation/identification	UCM shall define a format for representing or identifying particular business contexts within messages. This includes the ability to represent the individual context components of a compound (intersection) context.	Coates - reworded submission of Gunther Stuhec. REJECTED - will be deleted. Subsumed by requirement #15.	Gunther Stuhec	No

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Contributions

Name	Size	Creator	Date
Contribution_Universal Business Context Model - v01.pdf	582 kb	Gunther Stuhec	Apr 05, 2007
Contribution_TMG UCM Requirements 2007-Feb-26.doc	66 kb	Gunther Stuhec	Apr 05, 2007
Contribution_IBM_UCM_Requirements_26042007.pdf	21 kb	Gunther Stuhec	Jun 26, 2008